Riverside County, CA – Recent Riverside County poll finds challenger Mark Orozco with a 2% lead over incumbent Supervisor Marion Ashley. Moreover, polling indicates Supervisor Ashley’s approval rating down. Only 37% of voters in the district approve of the job Marion Ashley is doing, compared to 48% who disapprove, and with about 15% unable to identify their current supervisor. Challenger and former Beaumont School Board Member, Mark Orozco has a slim lead of 47/45 and a popular approval rating over the incumbent.

A poll of 1780 registered voters was taken in the 5th Supervisorial District, which includes cities of Banning, Beaumont, Cabazon, Calimesa, Cherry Valley, Moreno Valley, Romoland, Nuevo, Perris, and Menifee. The poll shows voters wanting a fresh change in representation and feel that the current leadership is out of touch with their issues. Even though it is a nonpartisan race, challenger Mark Orozco has nearly a 4.5% point advantage over incumbent Ashley. Additional data was considered with poll results, based on turnout from the previous elections in 2010, Banning/Beaumont should account for 25% of the vote and Moreno Valley/Perris should account for 42% of the vote for 2014.

Marion Ashley’s approval numbers in the 5th district have declined over the course of this last year, polling suggest a drop in support in Beaumont, Cherry Valley, Perris and Moreno Valley. In the last four years, there has been a shift in demographics from conservative voters to more moderate voters. The data suggest that all of Riverside County has experienced this shift with the fallen approval rating of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

We found voters have a 41% approval rating of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, with a 37% approval rating of the job Marion Ashley is doing among knowledgeable voters. The 5th supervisorial district voters dislike the direction the current incumbent supervisors are headed on most issues.

Mark Orozco attributed this boost to his dedicated volunteers who have been reaching out to voters since early this year. “I am proud to have a team of dedicated volunteers, mostly college students from our local colleges and universities who believe in my candidacy and have been working hard to get our message out to the voters. We will continue to do so as we go out into the 5th district next week during our weeklong ‘Off and Running’ event which take us through most of the district in one week.”

*1780 voters were surveyed. 718 voters being Republican, 676 being Democrat, 386 being other than, from March 10-15, 2014. The margin of error was less than +/- 1.8%. Surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews in English and Spanish.